The Apprentice
by Snakefang93
Summary: The greatest wizard of modern times found someone worthy enough to pass over his legacy.
1. Chapter 1

For those who were following my earlier works, I will update The Rise. But my attention was divided between my exams, assignments and whatnot. I wanted to test my skills in writing a story with a mentor Dumbledore, just like how canon should have been, not the crap JKR force fed to us.

Welcome all to my newest idea of the apprentice. Oh and the story starts at the end of GOF.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP. The only things I own are my magic system and my OC's.

**The Apprentice: The Rebirth and the offer:-**

"As I looked over towards the small mob of black robed figures surrounding the abomination responsible for every single misery in my life, I realized sadly that it was over.

Every life that was lost protecting this generation wizards and witches from this abomination, the sacrifices made in the first war and all the blood that was shed, the tears that fell only ransomed a measly thirteen-year reprieve.

I stood there watching, bound by the magic of the same rat who sold out my parents, while I was forced to listen to the almighty 'Heir of Slytherin', my arse gloat about the inefficiency of my mother's sacrifice and how worthless it was against the unopposed might of Lord Voldemort. My current state being that of a captured prisoner, I clenched my jaw and gazed with unadulterated hatred at my capturers, hoping for some miracle that would save me from these monsters who supposedly were the 'law-abiding citizens of magical Britain'.

As the monster touched my scar, I heard a hiss of pain that actually came from my mouth. I focused on the pain as a way to forget the situation but all it did was unleash a flood of memories which no doubt were a doing of Voldemort to drag me into a never ending pit filled with dread and misery. I remembered the cold nights I spent in a freezing cupboard, the time Petunia pushed me down the steps, the pain I felt when I burnt Quirrel to death with the power of my mother's blood sacrifice, the pain of basilisk fang piercing me and sapping my life out of my body. The monster's hand left my scar, but the memories still flooded my senses. From the rush of adrenaline and triumph I felt when I stabbed Tom Riddle's diary, I drew some satisfaction from that memory of my tormenter's demise. I felt the memory of Quirrel and Voldemort's shrieks as I burned them within a hairsbreadth of the afterlife. I rememberd watching from the shadows as Fawkes tore out the eyes of insane Salazar Slytherin's monstrosity, and I remembered stabbing the basilisk to death shortly after that. I then remember the rush as my patrounus drove away some one hundred dementors. Then I remembered that I was all alone and I smiled at that grimly.

Voldemort, who initially seemed slightly unnerved by my smile recovered enough to tell me that no one was coming to save me. I couldn't help it, I laughed. Of course he didn't understand the reason at all. I was secretly glad that no one was here to save me. Anyone who showed up then would be killed just like Cedric Diggory.

Voldemort was terribly outraged at my laughter and when I didn't answer his questions, he launched a spell at me. I missed the incantation of it, but the colour was identical to the _"Crucio"_ Moody cast on the spider. I felt the spell strike my chest and my world dissolved into a myraid of eternal suffering that never ceased to end. As the pain left me, I was reminded of the time I accidentally touched a live wire when I was 7 years old, whose outer layer had been peeled off.

I was pulled out of that reverie by a high-pitched voice. The curse disoriented me because it took me a moment to remember what was going on before the next curse hit me.

Then I remembered, I was alone, surrounded by enemies, bound to a tomb unarmed and injured. The realization wasn't particularly terrifying, looking back on life I realized that I lived for the most part. I did save myself from Riddle, Quirrel, Dementors, dragons, merfolk, and Dudley.

"_Dudley!_ "

I almost shouted as I remembered Harry hunting, how when I was 8 I accidentally apparated onto the school roof to escape. I desperately tried to remember how I achieved that feat. I had wanted to get away and I had looked at the school roof and... I was there. I frowned at the simplicity of it. Had it really been that simple? Did I just need to have a destination in mind and be determined enough to be there. I glanced over to look at the pathetic rat 'Wormtail' who was holding my wand about five paces away. I was ripped out of my thoughts as I hear Voldemort shouting another Crutiatous curse at me for refusing to pay attention to his spiel. This man, if he could be called one had some serious anger issues. In a split second decision I forced myself to apparate in a crouch in front of Wormtail as I heard the crack as the statue that had held me moments prior shatter from the impact of Voldemort's Crucio. I lunged from the ground and kicked Wormtail in his 'jewels', who was staring dumbly at my sudden appearance. After the kick connected, I snatched my wand from his loosened grip and barrel rolled through the death eaters and dived behind a large monument, just as a series of Green lights flew overhead. Voldemort's shout to seize me sent me into a cold sweat. I bolted to the side with speed I didn't know I had as the stone monolith exploded. I dodged and ran as I yelled every spell I could think of (Including those I only knew the names of as blasting, piercing and bone-breaking curses flew from my wand's tip) shooting at anything that moved. I didn't recognize most of the spells they used, but the ones I did left me in a perpetual state of terror. I rolled under a bolt of iron and jumped out of my roll to get over a wave of fire. I dodged out of the way of a hex but it exploded instead of continuing past me. The blast threw me into a cross shaped tombstone and knocked the wind out of me. A curse hit the tombstone I was leaning on and it exploded ripping holes through my robes and embedding shrapnel into my now bleeding back. I fell to the ground to avoid a trio of curses that emitted a roar as they passed overhead. I saw a Death Eater move to my left and I fired a cutting charm at him and watch in shock as his the white mask glowed and the spell was cancelled on impact. As the situation stood, I was trying to avoid being crushed by a freshly summoned Golem currently trying to hit me with earthen fists the size of couches. I cast a sideways glance to see Cedric's body as green lights shot at me from all directions and for the second time in two minutes I apparated, this time to Cedric's side. As I did I remembered a spell from the fire spells I studied in the restricted section from the pass McGonagall signed to help me prepare for the final task. Foolishly, I spoke

_"FIENDFYRE!"_

When I asked Professor Flitwick about the spell, he said it was a dangerous curse that required both emotion and power to summon and that wizards using it were generally consumed by the cursed flame since most didn't have the skill or power to control the ravaging flames.

As I conjured the flames, I knew what emotion to use and there was more than enough hate in me at the moment to power the spell. I watched the fire explode from my wand tip in fascination and I felt my own hate fusing into the monstrous flaming mass in front of me causing it to take form. The flaming Chimera that emerged attacked without hesitation and as I watched it incinerate the graveyard. I continued adding more memories and feelings to the spell until the monstoroues flaming beast held all my wrath and raw hatred towards the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

It was only after the monster fully took form that I realized that I was losing control. The spell latched onto me, drained me and called forth all of my darker feelings. Fear, loneliness, and desperation gripped my heart the same way I felt when I was surrounded by the dementors. Suddenly, the flames reduced in size and disappeared completely as I saw Voldemort emerge, wand blazing, red-eyes narrowed in malice, rage and anger. I was pleased to see some charred corpses of the Death Eaters. The feeling however didn't last for long.

"_Crucio_"

Then I collapsed in agony and screamed myself hoarse. When Voldemort ended his fun I was lying on top of Cedric's corpse coughing on my own blood.

As I looked up I saw the glint of the Triwizard Cup about 5 feet away. In a panicked effort to escape I screamed the summoning charm, the cup hurtled towards me as I closed my palm on the cup's handle.

And that's the last thing I remember" Harry finished.

Albus Percivial Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was officially having his worst day in at least the past two decades. He had expected their common enemy to move, but the past four years since Harry's re-entry into the wizarding world had been filled with utter ridiculousness that caused even a wizard of his calibre to flinch.

During Harry's first year, Voldemort possessed Quirrel and came within an arms-length of getting the Philosopher's Stone. Albus still had the urge to throttle Nicholas Flamel whenever he saw the legendary Alchemist. What kind of man would lie to his colleague, trick him into putting a fake artefact inside a school at the risk of over three hundred children's lives? As much as Albus hated or perhaps even loathed to admit it, the trick worked and Nicholas was still the same indisputable deceptive genius of the magical world.

Harry's second year, the Chamber of Secrets was opened _again_, and he had to spend most of the year hunting for Riddle looking for unknown passages in and out of the school and walking around the corridors with a rooster in his hand, trying to kill the basilisk. Fawkes had one burning day every 50 years and that had to be on his period during the year he needed him to help find out if the chamber existed or if Riddle was in the school again. Then, Cornelius and Lucius had to show up and remove him from the school before he could finish searching for the chamber. He then spent the next few months in the back-room of the Hogshead with a time turner brewing _Felix Felicis_, before downing three times the recommended maximum dosage. Aberforth force fed him three bezoars, and luckily enough he recovered. To this very day, Albus was still amazed as the end of the year concluded with his reinstallation, Harry luckily surviving a bite from a basilisk, zero casualties, Hagrid getting a full pardon, Fawkes was reborn as apheonix, and if his most recent guessses were correct, Tom's horcrux was destroyed.

Third year, Sirius Black escaped. Peter turned out to be a traitor. Fudge proved himself to be thoroughly in Death Eater pocketbooks. And of course no year was complete without losing a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. That wouldn't have been too bad had the teacher in question not been the first one to actually produce O students on the NEWT for the first time in four years.

Finally there was the past nine months of mayhem. Death Eater activity at the World Cup, hosting the Triwizard Tournament, the Wizengmont pushing to get restrictive legislation through while the media was occupied, and disappearances of ex-order members and ministry officials. The finishing touch just had to be Tom's resurrection. As if that wasn't enough, Cedric Diggory was dead, and Fudge refused to even hear about the Voldemort's return. He sometimes wondered to himself if the sheep that resided in magical Britain deserved any form of saving. Not for the first time in a few decades, Albus Dumbledore regretted stopping Gellert. While Gellert's cruelty was boundless, he would have put the sheep in their place.

Following the brief confrontation with Mad-Eye(who proved to be Bartemis Crouch Jr. under polyjuice) when he and Harry were both interrogated, both under Veritaserum, in front of five Aurors and the Minister. Fudge promptly accused Harry and Bartemus of being insane and had the latter receive the Dementor's kiss.

After having dispatching Order members and Severus to their respective duties, Albus returned to Harry and with the youths' permission preceded to relive Harry's recollection via Legilimency. And now the Supreme Mugwump( though he feared he wouldn't hold the title for long) was sitting in his office with a still injured Harry Potter reclined on a conjured couch while Fawkes healed the remaining injuries of the Boy-Who-Lived the nurse was unable to heal, deep in thought.

All things considered the Grand Sorcerer could honestly say he was justified when he reached into his desk pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey and conjured two glasses. Harry who was stretching his recently healed back looked over questioningly at the aged headmaster in front of him. In response the old man walked over and handed Harry the glass of liquor before walking over to an open window and letting out a sigh of exhaustion. After a few minutes of silence Albus turned to the raven-haired youth and spoke with a heavy sigh for the first time since their mental cross-examination began.

"Harry, you no doubt remember when you asked me in your first year why your parents where targeted by Voldemort"

Harry nodded mutely, suppressing the anxiety that rose hearing the headmaster's words.

"Well in truth there was no logical reason for Voldemort's attack that night; however, there is an extremely depressing explanation" Albus turned and stared very sternly into Harry's eyes "I will have to ask that you not interrupt me until I have finished, this is a painful story for me in more ways than you could imagine."

After Harry's nod of affirmation, Albus turned to the window and let out another long shuttering sigh before continuing.

"I wasn't planning on telling you this until you were older; but, tonight's events and Legillimency have shown me that I was foolish to think you could ever have a happy childhood. I will start at the beginning, fifteen years ago when the war with Voldemort was still escalating. I was interviewing teachers for the open positions in an upstairs room at the Hogshead. I had almost finished with the interviews when I was interviewing Ms. Trelawney. I admit that the only reason I had even considered offering her the position because of her distant relative Cassandra Trelawney's notable skill. As our interview drew to a close, I was about to conclude that she was a fraud and end the interview there; however, fate had other plans. As the interview was ending Ms. Trelawney went into a trance and began to reveal a prophecy. As the prophecy started my brother Aberforth found Severus Snape eavesdropping outside the door threw the snooping young man out of the pub. Sadly, Severus had already heard a part of the prophecy and ran to his master. The segment of the prophecy that Severus told Tom was '_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..._' Now the full prophecy continued to state '_...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives..._' When Tom heard the prophecy he deduced that there were only two children that fit the description. The first candidate was yourself and the second was your friend Neville Longbottom. When Severus found out that Voldemort intended to kill you and your family he rushed to me and begged me to protect your family offering anything in return for their safety. And that is when your parents went into hiding at Godric's Hollow, Severus became my spy, and the rest, is history. What the History books don't tell is that after that, on that fateful Hallows Eve, as your Father valiantly stalled Voldemort, your mother prepared an ancient blood magic ritual that, through the willing necessary sacrifice of her own life, she used to bind a shield into your very blood. When Voldemort's Avada Kadavra and your blood shield reacted and your skin split causing your uniquely marked face, as the wards on the house cascaded destroying everything but you. Following that, I placed you at your aunt's residence and tied the blood shield (which would have dissipated in a week had I not bound it to something more stable than your small and fragile body) to the blood of your aunt and by extension to all who lived at Number 4 Privet Drive. The ward held because of love, not the love of your aunt mind you, but the love of your mother. Your mother never truly could stop loving her family, before she went into hiding she tried desperately to get your aunt to flee the country or at least accept an emergency portkey. So I doubled the wards target and caused your mother's protection to feed off of your aunt's love for her son and husband and strengthen the protections on the house and on you. That is the end of my story, a story about how in my foolishness, about how in my stupidity I left you alone with people who hated your mother, and about how I failed to protect you from Riddle by allowing a piece of prophecy to fall into that his hands."

Dumbledore turned around to face Harry looking like a truly beaten man, his shoulders slumped, his face ruddy and glistening tears framed his dulled blue bloodshot eyes.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't feel regret for how I dealt with the whole prophecy debacle. I was blind, and the only thing left for me to tell you is that I am sorry"

Harry was in shock, there were no words to describe how torn he felt. One thought was to just nod dumbly, or to go to sleep and hope to never wake up, another much more appealing idea was to get up and smash everything in the office. However, before Harry acted on any action Fawkes let out a long sad trill, startling both the room's human occupants. Harry looked at Fawkes who had flown over to Dumbledore and was trying to cheer her chosen companion. The more Harry thought about it the clearer it became. Dumbledore had been trying to do right by Harry, granted the aged sorcerer had made some grievous mistakes. If what Albus said was true then he had made the mistakes with the best of intentions, and all the slights had been accidental. But still, a lingering suspicion, call it paronia, warned me otherwise.

"Prove it" Harry's voice came out colder than he had meant it to "Swear on your life and your magic that everything you just said was the truth"

Albus pulled out his wand and intoned "I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, swear on my life and my magic that everything I have told Harry James Potter this night is the blatant, unabashed, uninhibited, and unaltered truth"

After a brief flash of golden light, Harry gave the old man a small half smile.

"I guess I would be the biggest hypocrite on Earth if I didn't forgive you, who didn't mean to hurt me, after I already forgave Ron, who consciously meant to hurt me with his words and actions."

For the first time that night the twinkle returned to Dumbledore's eyes.

"Even if I forgive you I still have a question"

"Ask away Harry"

"Why did Professor Snape care about my family if he hated my dad, and how do you know you can trust him" Dumbledore smiled

"As sharp as ever Harry, well I would like to tell you that he had a change of heart but I think we both know better. No, I am afraid that the truth is actually a far more dissatisfying answer. You see, when Severus came to me on that night all those years ago I swore an unbreakable oath to never reveal his reasons for his betraying Voldemort. But, if it is any consolation Harry I can tell you that I made him swear an unbreakable oath of loyalty to me, so that he cannot willfully betray me no matter the circumstance. But, he might tell you his reasons Harry, if you ask him when you do not resemble your father"

Harry was about to try and push Dumbedore for more information after receiving that cryptic hint but decided against it.

"Now Harry, I know you've had a rough night but I have a small favour to ask you"

"Certainly sir, what do you need" replied Harry, although his inner senses started screaming at him to decline and deny everything. Suddenly he shook his thoughts away. He suddenly sounded like Fudge and he didn't like the fat-arse even a bit, not after the fat pig accused him of being insane.

"Well, I would be most grateful if you didn't tell anyone that you and I were drinking in my office, Cornelius is in a state as it is and the last thing we need is for me to be accused of getting my students drunk in my office." at the last part Harry smiled slightly. It was a reasonable request after all.

Harry James Potter, Triwizard Champion, Basilisk Slayer, Boy-Who-Lived and holder of many more insignificant titles woke up in the office of Professor Dumbledore after sleeping for three hours by the sound of potions master Severus Tobias Snape tumbling out of the fireplace.

"Albus…" the gasping plea was followed by a hacking cough that left blood dripping from the spy's lips.

Dumbledore crossed the room from his desk and dropped onto his left knee and gingerly pulled the injured man into his arms. Harry leapt off the couch as Albus levitated the injured man over.

"Harry get me the blue-green potion labelled "ADGG" from the top right drawer of my desk, the silver engraved dagger in the tan leather box on top of the desk and open the bottom drawer of the third cabinet from the left behind my desk."

The groggy youth leapt to the desk and opened the top right drawer revealing at least 200 potions on spread over 5 separate shelves! After shaking himself briefly he grabbed the appropriate vial, whipped open the tan leather box and snatched the dagger, and wrenched open the bottom drawer of the third cabinet before subsequently dropping to the ground as 3 vials, a mortar and a pestle flew out of the opened drawer into Dumbledore's waiting hands.

Harry handed the potion and dagger to Dumbledore and watched in awe as the elder wizard deftly poured the potion into the mortar added the ingredients of the three other vials in carefully matched portions removed with practiced ease. Then, while grinding the ingredients together with rhythmic motion, the sorcerer began to chant in a deep rumbling chant. Heat filled the room and it felt like Harry was underwater. As Dumbledore continued to chant he immersed his left palm in the swirling black mass, he summoned several small flames and attached them to Snape's robe, burning away his clothes exposing a deep jagged diagonal gash across his chest. Then, Albus gripped the dagger in his right hand he carved several intricate runes into Severus' exposed chest. Finally, Dumbledore ceased chanting and took a deep breath and slammed his left palm against Snape's bleeding chest causing pale blue light to explode out of Snape's eyes, ears nose and mouth. After several moments of Snape screaming all was silent. A thoroughly shaken Dumbledore stumbled back to his desk and slumped into the chair.

Harry, who was getting over the shock of watching the ritual, looked dumbly between a now unharmed sleeping Snape and an exhausted Dumbledore. After, a few quite moments Harry asked the question.

"What just happened"

"I healed Severus"

"I understood that much, I mean why did you heal Professor Snape? And why couldn't Fawkes heal him"

"Fawkes' tears could not have healed Severus' wounds, because of the link he has with Riddle through the Dark Mark on his arm"

"But I thought the Mark was just a tattoo linked with a variant protean charm linking them all together"

Dumbledore sighed tiredly.

"Unfortunately, Tom was not that benign in his designing the Dark Mark. The Dark Mark itself must be taken intentionally and without coercion, meaning the bearer must choose to swear loyalty to whoever administers the Dark Mark. After that the Dark Mark blemishes the bearer's soul before manifesting as a visible indicator of their sin. The Dark Mark then becomes parasitic and after the initial branding the bearer begins to feed their psychological and magical being to the one who administered the brand. After a time the Marked person feeds their entire mental and magical capacities to their master. The branded person, while still human, is mentally and magically dependent on their master's will, that saying all Death Eaters are Voldemort's slaves."

After a few moments of shocked silence Harry regained his voice.

"So the Dark Marks fuel Voldemort's magic?" he shakily asked.

Dumbledore nodded

"And Snape is going to become a magic-less squib?" he asked, urging himself to keep the glee out of his voice.

"Professor Snape, Harry. And no, he will not become a magic-less puppet because Tom feeds the Marked Death Eaters his own magic, and that is why Severus would be unaffected by Fawkes' tears. The two magics will not react if they come in contact since Fawkes is a creature of light and Tom's magic is inherently dark" Dumbledore explained patiently.

"But if he wanted to, he could make Professor Snape a squib"

Dumbledore again nodded sadly.

"So, why couldn't Vodemort control the Proffesor's mind as well as his magic?"

"Because Severus here is a master Occullumes, and can block out the mental drain of the Mark"

Harry sat down on a chair across the desk from Albus

"So… Fawkes' tears wouldn't work because Professor Snape is using Voldemort's magic?"

"Correct, and the ritual I just used to heal your beloved Potions Instructor was a far less pleasant, very painful, and extremely draining method of healing someone who may or may not have extremely dark magic corrupting them."

"Got it, can I ask another question"

"Well I am sure you can, and of course you may"

"Thank you, The question I wanted to ask why you couldn't summon the dagger and the potion in your desk drawer like you did the other ingredients."

"Nothing ever escapes your notice, does it Harry" Harry flushed slightly at the compliment, but couldn't help swell with pride.

"The reason I couldn't summon the objects in question is because of the enchantments placed on them specifically an anti-summon and summon triggered vanishing charm on the potion bottle, and the runes on the dagger prevent any magical interaction."

"Sir, if it's no trouble to you, could you tell me why there is an anti-summon triggered vanishing charm on the potion bottle." Dumbledore gave Harry a piercing look

"Harry, the nature of some things we have already discussed since you woke up is such that if it were revealed that we were discussing it, we would most likely be fined and given matching cells in Azkaban, for a period of no less than 12 months." Harry took that moment to do what any somewhat normal person of approximately fourteen years does when told they are in danger of going to a maximum-security cell for at least a year with the definite assurance of being totally at the nonexistent mercy of the soul-sucking demonic prison guards, he panicked. Harry Potter paled rapidly, tensed visibly, his pupils dilated rapidly and he lost the capacity speak coherently. Finally, after several brief but terrifying moments he regained control of the spoken English language to ask the obvious question.

"Why?"

"Very simply Harry, we were discussing the creation and implication of Category-A forbidden magic. There is only one reason we could conceivably have for discussing the intricate nature of spells like the Dark Mark. Can you guess what that reason is Harry?"

"To counter the effects or destroy it"

"Correct, but since the ministry's current stance is that Voldemort and his Dark Mark are gone, they could prosecute you for investigating, and myself for teaching and encouraging your study of Black Magic."

"But, I didn't want to study it…I just-just…"Dumbledore interrupted

"I am aware of your motivations, Harry. I also trust you not to abuse my trust by sharing this information; however, I wanted to make sure you understood exactly how dangerous it is for you to know about these magics, then again the ministry, despite my many efforts still is filled with what Severus would with affection, call 'dunderheads'" Dumbledore ended sadly.

"I…I think I can understand sir. And I can understand if you can't or don't want to…" Once again, He was interrupted by the Headmaster.

"Of course I want to teach you Harry, I just wanted you to understand that the things I am telling you require that you keep secrets. Can you understand that?"

"Of course sir"

"Good. Now, about that summon triggered vanishing charm on the potions bottle. Before I continue would you care to guess why I wouldn't want the bottle to be summon-able?"

"Because…you wouldn't want somebody else to gain possession of it"

"Correct, and why wouldn't I want someone to be able to summon a particular potion?"

"Because it is either valuable or dangerous…" and briefly Harry paused "…or forbidden?" he asked hesitantly.

"Right again Harry. Yes, the potion you fetched for me and the ritual I performed are both borderline at best in regards to their legality. The ritual is only prohibited because the potion is forbidden. And can you guess why the potion is forbidden" It was almost like a potions lecture; sans pain, humiliation and insults and of course the sabotaging.

"The ingredients sir"

"Yes Harry, the ingredients, more specifically the central ingredient." At that moment Dumbledore reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small bottle of silvery blue liquid and placed it on the desk and Harry's eyes widened in recognition.

"_Unicorn Blood_" he gasped, as causing Dumbledore to nod sagely.

"Yes, one of my lesser known experiments during my time with Nicholas Flamel was one on the purification of Unicorn blood" Dumbledore placed the bottle back in the drawer and closed it.

"During the experiments we found many variant ways of extracting healing essence from the blood, none of the extractions retained unicorn bloods primary quality-"

"Immortality"

"Yes, very fortunate thing too or we would have a great many more problems than we already possess"

"But why bother with the healing rituals if you had Fawkes" The phoenix in question trilled in response

"Fawkes does offer a much preferred method of healing but phoenix tear healing does have limitations. The first being that phoenixes cannot and will not cry on command, the second is that even if they could cry on command the tears themselves use the phoenixes' stored magic; and a phoenix's magical core, even though it rapidly regenerates, is not infinite." In the brief pause which followed Snape began to stir.

"I believe we shall have to postpone this discussion till a later date I have a feeling Severus will have a great deal to report" Harry took that as a hint to leave and began to do so when Dumbledore stopped him.

"I believe it would be best for you to stay here and hear whatever it is Severus has to report as it will most likely have something to do with you. I will have to ask that you not interrupt Severus' report and that any questions you have you hold until after he leaves".

After a nod of assent, Dumbledore disillusioned Harry and ushered him out of what would be Snape's line of sight. With a last glance at Harry, Dumbledore walked over to the couch holding the spy and gently shook the man.

"Headache potion...Numbing Charm on my chest..." Albus chuckled as he summoned the potion, and cast the charm.

"Just like last time isn't it Severus?" the younger man grunted as he blinked open his bloodshot eyes.

"I had hoped last time would be the _last_ time" the aged Headmaster smiled gently

"Well, with you spying for me hopefully we can conclude this war more quickly than the last one"

Snape's lips quirked up slightly as he went into another coughing fit.

"From what I just witnessed I think we are well positioned to eliminate the Dark Lord's forces before they have reassembled"

"You are ready to deliver your report then?" Dumbledore asked sagely and Snape nodded.

"Start when ready Severus" Albus summoned the chair from his desk and sat down next to the couch.

"When I apparated to the Dark Lord the first thing that happened was I was hit with a Crucio, a cutting hex, and a bone-splinter. What followed was the expected interrogation of my actions for the past thirteen years and an in depth torture session to ensure I was telling the truth. After deciding I was of more use alive I was allowed to cast a temporary stasis charm on my chest, the Dark Lord said the pain would remind me to be prompt in future summonings. Then, I was allowed to see the rest of my old comrades. Imagine my surprise when I walk into a room filled with dead and injured Death Eaters. The Dark Lord ordered me to brew the usual set of potions. When I asked what happened to the injured forces I recieved a Crucio and a bone-breaker for my curiosity. That's when the Dark Lord left and I went through the Death Eaters to find someone to tell me what the state of the troops was. As it turns out Goyle was one of the only ones unscathed. He evasively answered my questions, but a few silent persuasion charms and mild Legilmency and his mind _showed_ me everything." Severus stopped and gave Dumbledore a hard look.

"I won't talk to you about what happened until _after_ you look at that memory"

As he spoke Snape tapped his wand to his head and pulled out a long silver strand and gestured to the lower left cabinet behind the headmasters desk.

"After I extracted _this_from Goyle I checked two of the other surviving Death Eaters for details. Both provided near identical recounts of the incident."

The older wizard merely nodded, walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a pensive which he deposited on the desk.

"If you would, Severus, although I wonder, what happened to Lucius?" Dumbledore enquired.

"The Dark Lord sent Lucius to the ministry to gain control over Fudge headmaster" Snape replied with a scowl to which Dumbledore only hummed thoughtfully.

Snape rose walked over to the desk and placed the silvery strand into the pensive. Harry then watched as the two older wizards entered the pensive. After a few long quite minutes both were released from the pensive memory, Albus looking slightly conflicted, although Harry detected a pleased expression on his face and Severus appeared to be very perturbed.

_'Must be thinking of the decimated forces'_

"Very well Severus was there anything else that happened?"

"Yes, just as I was leaving I received the order that I should try and kill Potter if the opportunity presents itself"

"I am afraid I can't allow that Severus"

"I hadn't expected you to be very enthusiastic about the idea. I had hoped we could stage a few botched attempts so that I could have something to tell the Dark Lord"

"So the answer is no"

"I don't think he would respond well at the moment, but maybe next semester". Harry barely restrained himself from shouting in response to the way the conversation seemed to be headed.

"Fine, we can discuss that later Albus".

"Yes I doubt that discussion would be the best use of our time at present"

"If you are through with me then I have to go start brewing the potions for the next time I'm summoned"

"Yes the interrogation is over. If you feel well enough then you can leave"

Severus turned and walked to the door before stopping.

"What do you plan to do with the boy?"

Albus smiled kindly.

"I always knew you cared for him" Snape turned around sharply to face the smiling man.

"You know full well I do _not_care about James Potter's spawn" Dumbledore merely frowned in response.

"Also I am now aware of exactly how unfit the Dursley's were to be Harry's guardians. Honestly, I was considering taking him on as my apprentice" Harry was totally and utterly dumbfounded

"Albus...are you seriously considering..." Snape's expression was a mixture of shock, surprise, revulsion and of course anger.

"Of course, I wouldn't say something like that in jest Severus."

"Of course..." Severus turned and stumbled out the door without another word.

After they were alone Dumbledore removed the disillusionment charm on a stunned Harry.

"I apologize Harry, I did not plan on Severus conducting most of his report within the pensive"

Unable to contain his curiosity Harry blurted out the expected question.

"Sir, where you serious? About you considering making me your apprentice?"

Albus chuckled.

"Of course I'm not considering it." If Harry had been stunned before it didn't begin to compare with what he was currently feeling; which felt like shock, sadness, and rejection. True, his grades weren't anything to write home about in his first three years. But he improved this year in preparation for the tournament and his spell work was complimented many times by his teachers.

"I have already finished considering it. I have now resolved to ask if you would accept the position of being my apprentice." Harry's emotions rebounded from the pits of despair to the height of euphoria in a second.

"Me…learning about magic…from you?" Harry asked breathlessly

"Not just learning _about_ magic, Harry." Dumbledore said with a glint in his eye which Harry never saw in the old man's eyes.

"Learning the natural sciences, mathematics, history, language, and philosophy. Mastering the subtle arts of potions and alchemy, refining charms and transfiguration to their purest states. There is more to magic then spells, formulas and theories, and there is oh so much more to the world than magic and science!"

Finally, Harry gained control of his confused mind.

"When can we start?"

Dumbledore looked Harry in the eyes and the glint in the blue eyes receded and Harry looked into twin ominous tunnels that seemed to travel far deeper than any eyes.

"Understand this Harry" the voice was Dumbledore's but it was far less warm and inviting then his jovial tone and it was deeper and heavier than usual. The words echoed in Harry's head and shook him to his core.

"If you accept this bond you are mine, you will learn from me until either you have reached the level I deem fit or until I die. You will surrender your worldly possessions, your freedom, and your rights until our link is destroyed. You will not be able to leave this bond by any means other than death. You will be required to obey any order I give you and unable to kill me unless I willingly tell you to do so. You will learn things that will shake your worldview, and you will suffer because of it. If you accept the bond you will receive my protection, my knowledge, my honesty, and my power. You will become my heir, and when you are ready I will step away and surrender everything I have. So I swear it. Do you accept?"

As Harry listened he felt a pressure on him that could be best compared with having one's own skin shrink, while their insides grew. He knew when he spoke it would be the end one way or another. And finally, Harry Potter made a decision that would change the tides of fate and send ripples of shivers across the entire magical community of Earth.

"YES"

He hadn't meant to shout. As the word left his mouth he felt his own magic explode out of his body and he felt himself falling and for a brief moment everything was black. As soon as the darkness settled and everything was still he felt pain unimaginable and the world was on fire and freezing at the same time then as quickly as the pain appeared it vanished. He snapped his eyes open and looked up into the eyes of the man standing over him. It was then he realized he was kneeling. Dumbledore smiled and offered a hand to the younger man kneeling on the ground.

"Shall we begin…Apprentice?" he spoke in a colder and a menacing tone and Harry couldn't help but feel that he had just sold his soul to the devil. Then again, better Dumbledore than submit to the will of Voldemort.

Looking at the nasty grin Dumbledore was sporting, the only thought that went through his mind was,

_'What have I gotten myself into now?'_

_That's all folks. Read and review. I am a review whore. The more you review, the faster I write._


	2. Chapter 2

Harry James Potter was on the floor, face down on the cold stones of the Room of Requirement in exhaustion. His body screamed at him his skin burned and itched, his bones ached and his joints burned, his vision, now corrected by a barely legal ritual and a potion was still blurred due to the amount of sweat and tears mixed with grime and every muscle in his body begged him to just die there. Harry heard footsteps walking towards him and he tightened his right hand on his wand as the footsteps stopped next to his head and he prayed he would just pass out there.

"Get up Harry." The sharp order reached his ears and he stifled a groan as he pulled himself to his feet, barely dodging a stinging hex which would have peeled off his skin. The caster was Albus Dumbledore after all. Dodging a stunner, he put up a grey shield to stop the banished solid projectiles towards him as he gritted his teeth and poured more and more power into the shield to prevent it from shattering. The shield was blown away by a banishing hex that originated out of nowhere as he was lifted off his feet and hit the opposite wall, 'hard'. Applying a _'spongify', _ he immediately swatted away a few weak curses and dodged a blasting curse that came close to turning his head into a bloody mass of gore. Wandlessly leviating a few stone boulders, he brought them into the path of the next few reductors as he ducked once again for cover. The slaughter continued.

Harry Potter shivered at the approaching Dementor. He wanted nothing more than to strangle the old man with his own beard. As it appoached him, Harry's thought about his past few weeks to keep his mother's screams at bay.

His training with Dumbledore was as tiring, both on his body and magic as he expected. He however never anticipated the kind headmaster to be this brutal in drilling combat curses, charms, hexes and battle transfiguration into his skull. Albus himself admitted that while he had the power and capacity to master them, he lacked the control over his magic and of course devotion.

This however, was combat training with only one target- fight until you are defeated, permanently. And that meant total defeat. Stunners wouldn't help him this type of fight. Harry had learned the hard way that apparently Dumbledore was resistant to stunners, and that the same was true of Voldemort who had delved so deep into Dark Arts and rituals that even high powered bludgeoners would hardly stop the dark wizard and for other wizards of greater than average power, it would take about the same number of stunners to knock out Dumbledore that it would take to beat a half giant, approximately 3 fired simultaneously or 7 in quick succession and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that his 'master' wasn't even trying while duelling him. He after all was Albus Dumbledore. Still, Harry couldn't help feel proud of his accomplishments during the past two months. It all began with Dumbledore confiscating his phoenix feather wand and shooting mild stinging hexes towards him at an alarming speed while he scrambled on his arse to dodge every single one of them. Apparently his 'master' was trying to hone his natural instinct and of curse push him towards producing a _'Protego'_ without a wand. He suffered blisters and pain from the stings for a week before he could even make his wandless magic work and mould the magic into a protective shield. Applauding him on the achievement, Albus, who for some reason insisted to be addressed by his first name whenever required, proceeded to instruct him on how to manipulate the energy at his fingertips into leviating, summoning and banishing. His initial attempts were frankly quite pathetic. But he couldn't help but feel that he was getting better at wandless magic after a few days, and stronger in a different sense as well. When asked, Albus Dumbledore merely gave him his 'mysterious' smiles and proceeded to explain how repeated exertion of his magic to the point of exhaustation would strengthen his magic at an enormous rate, while at the same time, increasing one's control over his magic. Apparently, a wizards magical maturity occurred between the ages of 14 and 17, by which a wizard would become a legal adult in the eyes of both magic and law while the second maturity occurred at 25 when he would have complete control over his fully matured magical core. The repeated exercise of wandless magic would trigger his maturity at a much younger age and aid towards the full development of the core even before the age of 25.

When enquired on why more people didn't use the same technique to make themselves more powerful, Albus Dumbledore laughed for a good two minutes, the time Harry was sure his left eyes was twitching all the time and the n proceeded to explain on how this was a discovery credited to him, although he didn't receive and Oder of Merlin since apparently Albus kept the secret to himself. Meaning, Tom was unaware of the technique and Harry could close the gap in at least the power department by the time he was 18-19 years old. And of course, Albus dropped the bomb-shell that apparently, he had a fragment of the bastard Voldemort's soul struck in his thrice damned scar and since conflict breeds strength, after aiding his mother's blood protection with his magic, his magical strength or as Albus called, it still sounded weird, "magical muscle" was quite strong and his current magical strength was apparently in the range of a top-auror like Alastor Mad-Eye Moody. And while Voldemort was much stronger than any auror, Harry hadn't even gone through puberty. Speaking of puberty, Albus gave him 'The Talk' three weeks into his training while at the same time, teaching him basic wizarding ettiquette. It was an embarrassing moment for Harry to hear about 'bees' and what not from the mouth of his 120 year old headmaster.

Continuing with his training, Dumbledore had pulled Harry to his feet after his first survival duel, gave Harry a spare wand and ordered him to show him every spell he knew. After the following display of textbook charms, transfigurations, and hexes, Dumbledore frowned and simply asked "Is that it?"

'Yes sir' was apparently the wrong answer. What followed could only be described as humiliating. Dumbledore rattled off every spell covered at Hogwarts in all his classes from first through fourth year. The score of Harry's cumulative exam: Sixty five percent of spells were remembered; of those he could cast forty percent without prompting. Harry also knew thirty spells not covered in the mandatory school texts. The next twenty-nine straight hours were spent relearning every spell Harry hadn't remembered. From the gorgon hair jinx, to the simple caterpillar to butterfly transformation. After nineteen sleepless hours Harry finally mustered the courage to ask why he needed to know the spells.

"Why, Harry? Your asking why you need to know magic? I would have assumed that by now, you would have understood the reason behind me teaching you all these. It is to fight Tom of course" DUmbledore spoke as if it was the simplest truth in the world.

"No, I am asking why I need to know magic? I can spend my time learning offensive spells or transfigurations" Harry insisted and Dumbledore frowned.

"'_**This**___Magic' is the basic foundation of your ability to wield any magic at all. Do you think Hogwarts teaches these spells because they are practical, because they are fighting spells? Of course not! _Wingardium Leviosa_ is far too long a incantation to have any battlefield use, _Alohomora_ can't unlock enchanted chains, and _'Episkey' cannot even make a difference if you are hit with a true dark cutting curse. _ These spells only exist to condition the wizard to cast magic. The wand movements for such simple spells only illustrate the flow of magic and make it even easier to perform. The words are designed to force students to speak with proper diction and to firmly link the magic with the effect in their mind. True battle spells are either chants or they are silent, only incompetent or arrogant wizards would say a spell incantation in battle! The reason you need this practice is because in order to master spells you will need to be able to go beyond just following a prescribed formula designed to teach the spell on a beginner level."

Harry had promptly shut up and worked feverishly at mastering all the remaining spells after that.

After he had 'caught up' on his spell work, Dumbledore introduced the new and improved work-week. A normal week consisted of 168 hours, and with Dumbledore's adjustments the week would now consist of 300 hours. A time-turner contains sands of time, rare jewels the size of table sugar that could charge enough energy to force a being through time-space, there was only enough sand within the time-turner to send someone back 7 hours, after which the sands would need to charge for one full revolution of the earth on its axis with it drawing energy directly from the Eart's magnetic axis or so had Albus claimed. Dumbledore's personal time-tuner was on the other hand, a special kind invented by your favourite candy loving headmaster and allowed a person to go back 13 hours in time. How the man did it, Harry would never know, at least in the foreseeable future. There was after all more magic than waving wands and thinking of incantations. He almost got the hang of silent casting with the continuous _'Occulumency' _training in which Albus bombarded his head with a stronger _'Legillimens'_ every passing try he kept his master out of his head. Occulumency also helped in controlling the strange 'connection' he shared with Voldemort. Harry felt the older wizard bombard his mental defences now and then and his scar was always on fore at those moments, but Harry managed to feed the Dark Lord a few false memories of his stay in Privet Drive and how Dumbledore abandoned him, about his 'supposed' nightmares during his ordeal with Cedric Diggory's murder. Harry could almost feel the smugness in Voldemort's thoughts as the older wizard withdrew carefully back into his own body.

Coming back to the soul fragment, Albus had come up with this insane plan. Harry then went into a memory within a memory.

_"Are you sure it won't get me as well? I thought they were just waiting for Riddle to say the word." Harry asked, frustrated at the quavering in his voice. He sounded like a blasted twelve year old._

_"Ah Harry." here, Dumbledore's customary twinkle was back. "The prophecy states that only Tom can kill you and vice-versa. I am absolutely certain that the dementor wouldn't bring you into the path of any harm. I will of course choose the dementor for this path of action, I have a few acquaintances within the species and I am sure they fear me enough to avoid kissing you" Dumbledore spoke with a twinkle that Harry was sure made him look insane at the 'moment'._

_"You have friends within Dementors?" Harry asked weakly._

_Dumbledore only smiled serenely, a striking contrast between his trainer self and teacher self._

_" I always have friends in high and low places Harry. Something one must need when one is the sole opposition between the Dark Lord and the ministry._

Harry's body was a tangled mess of throbbing pain mixed with numbness in certain spots. For better or worse, his connection with Voldemort was gone... literally yanked out of his head like a badly performed tooth extraction and for the first time in a few years, he felt 'free'. He could literally feel magic pass through him as it filled him with a sense of peace, responding to a nary thought. Wow, certainly something to work on during the next few days, that is if he was allowed of course. He currently felt like he was run over by a herd of wild hippogryffs.

Still, the analogy seemed to fit, like whenever Harry had actually lost a tooth, he would run his tongue over the voided depression and search for the missing object. Mentally, he did the same thing with his forehead and noted that it was heavily bandaged.

"Trust me, Harry," Albus Dumbledore said looking a bit ashen even though six hours had passed. "I saw some truly revolting rituals during my 120 years old lifetime till now. With Merlin as my witness my dear boy, they all paled in comparison with what just happened in there. Your scar split wide open and this dark spectre started spraying everywhere accompanied with black smoke. Even the dementor hesitated in devouring the fragment and that is saying something. In the darkest parts of my heart Harry, I still had hope for Tom, however little it was. But after seeing the destruction of the horcrux Harry, I am certain that my former pupil cannot be redeemed in anyway, unlike Gellert Harry, Tom needs to truly die" Dumbledore sighed at the end.

"So, it's gone?" Harry asked, just wanting to be sure, ignoring his mater's spiel. He barely remembered any of it and what little he did was the stuff of nightmares.

"It most certainly has Harry. Do you really doubt me that much Harry?" Dumbledore twinkled once again and Harry fell back into the grasp of morpheus as soon as he heard the words. He was sure that even Dumbledore was worried that the ritual might not work in the intended way.

Harry looked into his trunk and scowled at the few items in it. Harry's possessions could definitely be described as poor if anyone saw his belongings. His worldly possessions amounted to a Broomstick with care kit(shrunken), One Photo Album, One Invisibility Cloak, One owl cage(shrunken), One set of fifth year texts, One hand carved wooden flute, One ceremonial dagger, One potions set with silver cauldron(shrunken), One copy of Quidditch through the ages, and One telescope(also shrunken). As he looked at his single sets of Dress Robes, Quidditch robes, brewing robes, dragon hide gloves and his single school uniform, He realized exactly how little non-transfigured clothing he possessed. Living with Dumbledore changes how one looks at worldly possessions.

When Albus Dumbledore grew up, he confessed his family was less than well off because of his father's arrest. As a result Albus and his brother Aberforth( Harry didn't even know Albus had a brother) both mastered the art of permanent transfiguration early on. "Why should you spend money on new school robes if you could enlarge them just enough to fit like a tailored suit?" Dumbledore explained that most wizards bought things like clothes because their control of transfiguration was too mediocre, or they have more money than they do sense. Harry could see the flashes of sheer brilliance, Albus Dumbledore hid carefully behind his carefully constructed image of an old man off his rockers.

Harry no longer carried kept crystal vials for potions as Dumbledore insisted they make their own using alchemy and or transfiguration. "Why carry around fragile glass objects if you can create them from sand or soil with a single motion?" Dumbledore lectured to his apprentice on how he never brought potion vials after his second year at hogwarts.

Looking at his few books he smiled, thanks to Dumbledore he had no need for his earlier year texts, and he only needed the fifth year texts for completing written assignments in the upcoming year. Now that he thought about it the only book written in English that he had opened in the past week was Dumbledore's handwritten journal on translating ancient Egyptian runes.

As Harry wandlessly levitated his remaining luggage into his trunk he began trying to come up with a workable solution for his most recent dilemma, what was he going to wear for the next month since he could hardly transfigure himself a fine pair of robes(he was beginning to explore the comforts more skilled transfiguration gifted his robes with) since he was 'legally' unable to do any magic. He could hardly explain his spare untraceable Yew and Dragon heartstring wand since he was supposed to be at the Dursleys, cut off from all communication. Harry idly wondered how he would live with all the emotions alone, cut off from all his friends. Besides, Diggory's death wasn't his fault anyway. It took him 3 weeks to conclude that after Albus blandly informed that he would take no weakness from his apprentice.

"All packed Harry?"

"Almost" He said as the last sentimental object he had jumped into his trunk.

"How do you think Sirius and the Weasley's would feel about me only wearing an invisibility cloak around my waist for the next month?"

"I think that both Sirius and young Ginevra would be very pleased for very different reasons" Dumbledore replied dryly as his lips twitched.

"Oh please master" Harry fairly whined. "I am fed up with Ginny's latest plans of writing secret letters giving me the impression that she is the only one that cares about me" Harry fairly whined. The letters all but implied that Ginny Weasley was single and that she was expecting him to ask her out. Unfortunately for Ginerva, Harry loathed doing a thing because it was expected of him. Of course if Albus hadn't had taken him as an apprentice, he would gone round the bend to appease people.

"Please stop whining Harry" Dumbledore faintly laughed. "

They already had this discussion regarding girls a week after the 'TALK' of course. After instructing to burn the latest Ginny Weasley letter with a wandless fire spell, Dumbledore proceeded to tell him how important it was to have an equal as his partner who would never hold him back and only push him towards excellence. Albus admitted that that was the only reason he never married. Of course that led to the conversation regarding his master's attraction to Gellert Grindelwald of all people seeing his drive, skill and of course raw power. Then again, who was he to judge. Albus had been a real Casanova when he was a student, bedazzling the fairer sex with his skill and power while the first kiss he, Harry Potter received was from a dementor of all things. That would change soon anyway. Albus took 2 minutes on ranting on how Ginny Weasley would hold him back and wasn't even close to a partner Harry needed. When asked about the reason behind his master's analysis, he only got a bland look and a shot of "She will only be a liability". It was only then Harry realized how ruthless Albus Dumbledore was. The death, destruction and the loss of the entire Order of the Phoenix changed the headmaster. Albus Dumbledore was fully committed in moulding into a powerful 'Class I' soccerer and the destruction of Tom Riddle. Albus Dumbledore always sought out the positives even in a pretty twisted person. Harry's eyes widened as he deciphered his master's speech patterns. Dumbledore would go to any lengths and was ready to do anything to kill Tom Riddle. And an incompatible partner who would hold him back would only hinder his plans of destroying Lord Voldemort's empire through the prophecised child. This war would definitely be different from the last one. Harry was sure of that one fact. He shivered as he thought of what it meant for him.

"Still Harry" Dumbledore continued, bringing Harry out of his trance. "You mustn't have much difficulty in whipping out your wand behind the wards of the Black manor. I am sure you can chalk out an explanation on how the ministry cannot trace your magic. " he chuckled, muttering about teens and their sensitivity over their looks to which he was rewarded with another sneer from Harry, who now reached above Dumbledore's shoulder and for a 14 year old turning 15, it was certainly impressive. Especially to a scrawny starved figure like himself.

Over the past two in a half months (closer to four and three quarters thanks to the time turner) Harry had been put through the most strenuous exercise of his life, running twenty kilometers along the lake shore, swimming back across, doing pushups and sit-ups while simultaneously levitating, summoning and banishing large boulders wandlessly, and lastly dueling Dumbledore, which was by far the most dangerous and draining exercise he ever face in his very short life in magic. They had begun duelling on the grounds two weeks ago, lest they accidentally injure someone passing the Room of Requirement, this was because Dumbledore's elementallly conjured fire without the darker tint, or more commonly known as _'Fiendfyre'_ fired through the door and taking out the door frame and most of the wall in the process. In their first duel outside on the grounds Dumbledore used the lake to summon a Tsunami, which decimated the battleground and Harry, whose shield barely saved his life from drowning. Harry saw flashes of the wizard that took part in the greatest magical duel in almost 400 years. The power his master yielded was unbelieveable.

Part of Harry's new physique was probably helped by the liberal use of borderline legal nutrient potions in conjunction with Dumbledore's definitely illegal homemade cocktail of purified unicorn blood, dragons blood and phoenix tears mixed in with a small pieces of cooked basilisk muscle, which surprisingly tasted good.

Still, regardless of the method, the results were decidedly impressive. He certainly was on way of having the figure of a 'leader'. Then again, figure wasn't everything. No matter how twisted he was, Adolf Hitler was a leader whom the masses followed, ignoring his average figure. Still, an impressive figure certainly gave out a good first impression.

Harry now stood at 183centimeters with sinewy muscles which were very impressive on his new and improved body. Especially very impressive if you were a 15 year old kid.

Bidding goodbye to his master, Harry's thought's turned to his master's new personality. The second war would be interesting. Very interesting indeed. And with an activating phrase, Harry Potter was whisked away from Hogwarts to his bedroom at Number4, Privet Drive.

Harry landed in the kitchen of 4 Privet Drive, on his feet for the first time in his life while wasn't the most longest, but Harry was sure his held more excitement and danger than most people's lifespans.

"Right" Harry said dropping the Trunk on the ground and walking over to the fridge.

"Let's see if we can find anything edible." He said pulling open the fridge and looking around until he found a slab of leftover steak. Ten minutes later, Harry was finishing off a bowl of vanilla ice cream when he heard the faint sound of someone coming up the walk, wandlessly levitating the dishes into the sink and kicking his trunk under the kitchen table and taking up his position as planned.

The door opened with a click and opened and Alastor Moody walked in wand drawn.

"Freeze" Harry's voice came out as an emotionless statement rather than a command. Alastor laughed.

"Come on Boy, why give away your position? You would be dead if I were a Death Eater."

"True. But if you were a Death Eater professor, you wouldn't made it this far into the wards." Harry replied rising from his position with a smirk on his face.

"There were wards around this place?" a bubbly pink haired witch gasped. She didn't even feel passing through the wards.

Harry walked into the foyer as Remus Lupin walked in, followed by Dedalus Diggle and Kingsley Shakebolt.

"Good to see you again Professor Lupin" Harry gave a curt nod to the werewolf. So deep was his desperation about the details of his parents was that he latched on to the only person who was supposed to be one of his father's best friends and didn't even bother with a visit in the first 10 miserable years of his life and if the man noticed the formality in his voice, he chose to remain silent on the matter.

"Oh my" a witch gushed. "He looks just like James and with Lily's eyes" and Harry fought the urge to roll his eyes andd instead settled for a polite nod.

"Right, so how are we getting out of here?"

"Broomsticks" Moody said gruffly "you ready to go?"

'_No. Of course I'm ready!_' "Yep, my trunk is in the kitchen"

"I'll get it" Tonks said eagerly "_Accio_Harry Potter's Trunk"

The corner's of Harry's lips twitched upward at the resulting crash as Harry's trunk smashed into the Dursley's kitchen-table knocking over the toaster and microwave.

"I'll go fix that" Tonks said sounding a bit put out.

"Eh, don't bother. I cleaned that room more than I care to think about. I can honestly say it never looked so good." Harry said dismissively as he reached into his trunk and pulled out his Firebolt.

"If you could shrink my trunk that would be lovely though" Remus beat Tonks to it attemptin to curry favour. Harry mentally snorted and put the shrunken trunk in his inner jacket pocket and turned to Moody.

"Are we disillusioning ourselves, did someone bring a really big invisibility cloak, or did the ICW revoke the Statue of Secrecy?" Four quick wand jabs later and the three disillusioned wizards and one disillusioned witch where walking out the door and taking off on brooms.

If he had to describe the flight Harry would have found it entirely uneventful, dull, and the only upside to it was the rush of tearing down the Thames River at one hundred and twenty kilometres per hour less than a quarter meter off of the water.

The other three fliers would not have described the experience as insane, reckless, and if they had to pick the best part of it they would have all agreed it was when they where on solid ground. As it was they told him what street they where headed to and he took off before they had the chance to stop him. Mad-eye was hardly an able flyer and Remus and Tonks couldn't do anything but try and follow the spray he kicked up as he shot across the surface of the river.

An occasional wandless bludgeoning hex to the water (they just assumed he kicked the surface) would clue them into his location, but even if he'd been glowing neon pink they wouldn't have been able to match his pace. Especially once he whipped up off the water and started hurtling down the muggle roads at the same speed. Had it not been for Moody's eye the entire 'escort team' wouldn't have even noticed his rapid directional shifts. As it was they where trying to keep up while watching him from above the buildings as the boy flew down ally's, between cars, up the side of buildings, along the sides of buildings, through pedestrians, through a parking garage, and through the second story flat of an apartment building that had two windows open.

They were so tired from trying to follow him that when Harry stopped in the middle of the empty street that marked their final destination they didn't even have the strength to say anything to him. Instead a very tired, panting Moody handed Harry a piece of paper. As a house materialized in front of him Harry frowned.

_"Of course the Fidelus"_ he thought as he looked around, extending his senses for any human presence nearby.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix turned out to be a dingy old house with a hysterical portrait and a staircase decorated with severed house-elf heads; Harry had known the Blacks had been Dark wizards, but the cheerfulness of their dwelling exceeded even his expectations.

The group of four entered the house and the disillusionment charm was removed, a paler than usual Mrs. Weasley entered and walked over, grabbing Harry and pulling him into a smothering hug.

"Oh Harry you look wonderful, we've all been so worried about you! Oh my you've grown!"

"Good to see you to, Mrs. Weasley" Harry replied forcing a smile and returning the embrace.

Looking at the cheerfulness that exceeded even his wildest imagination, Harry sighed. It was really going to be a long 3 weeks.

Yeah. shorter chapter than the last one. Still, many events happen. Lupin hasn't been my favourite character and probably never will. I will keep the bashings to a minimum. Harry has improved so much in the past few months that he feels that he is better than them. And of curse, he wouldn't last 10 seconds against Riddle now since his knowledge and XP are mediocre compared to Tom. ( Come on guys, Tom Riddle has 50 years on Harry).

Expect an update next week.


End file.
